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  • Mycobacterium avium in Comm...
    Lande, Leah; Alexander, David C; Wallace, Jr, Richard J; Kwait, Rebecca; Iakhiaeva, Elena; Williams, Myra; Cameron, Andrew D S; Olshefsky, Stephen; Devon, Ronit; Vasireddy, Ravikiran; Peterson, Donald D; Falkinham, 3rd, Joseph O

    Emerging infectious diseases, 03/2019, Volume: 25, Issue: 3
    Journal Article

    Attention to environmental sources of Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection is a vital component of disease prevention and control. We investigated MAC colonization of household plumbing in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. We used variable-number tandem-repeat genotyping and whole-genome sequencing with core genome single-nucleotide variant analysis to compare M. avium from household plumbing biofilms with M. avium isolates from patient respiratory specimens. M. avium was recovered from 30 (81.1%) of 37 households, including 19 (90.5%) of 21 M. avium patient households. For 11 (52.4%) of 21 patients with M. avium disease, isolates recovered from their respiratory and household samples were of the same genotype. Within the same community, 18 (85.7%) of 21 M. avium respiratory isolates genotypically matched household plumbing isolates. Six predominant genotypes were recovered across multiple households and respiratory specimens. M. avium colonizing municipal water and household plumbing may be a substantial source of MAC pulmonary infection.